LOCAL NEWS

NHIP collects millions Published on Wednesday, February 10, 2010 Email To Friend    Print Version The meeting of the Consultative Forum on February 9 revealed that the new health care tax collection is on target. Contributions from workers began in November and, to date, nearly $4.5 million has been collected. It had been estimated that the new tax on workers would yield $1.5 million per month and it appears this is the case. The new plan and new hospitals will be open for business in mid April. Governor Gordon Wetherell At the present rate, the government will have between 7 and 8 million dollars on hand at start up of the hospitals and new contracted health care programme. Governor Gordon Wetherell had revealed some months back that the monthly cost of the new hospitals and the Interhealth Canada plan will be $5 million monthly. Therefore, the government will have to contribute $3.5 million from the general revenue fund each month for the next 25 years, The Governor had also revealed that the income from the new tax will be deposited in the general fund and be co-mingled with all other revenues. The former Minister of Finance, Floyd Hall, had compared the new health plan to the National Insurance plan. However, there appear to be some significant differences. National Insurance funds are held in trust and, in theory, cannot be used for any other purpose except to pay pensions. National Insurance costs can be actually estimated and controlled as the number of contributors remains steady and the pension benefits are fixed. In fact, pension benefits are based on contributions throughout a person’s working career. Health costs have been escalating worldwide based on market conditions and can be affected by an unexpected rise or fall in the rates and types of illness. A natural disaster or epidemic could place unexpected financial pressure on the health system. The governor had also indicated that a portion of the monthly estimated cost would be allocated to overseas care for certain conditions that cannot be addressed in the local hospital or programme. This, it appears from previous experience, is not accurately predictable.   Reads : 346 Back... Comments: No comments on this topic yet. Be the first one to submit a comment. Back... Send us your comments!   Send us your comments on this article for publication in our Readers' Forum or as a Letter to the Editor. All fields are required and in the interest of openness and transparency we will no longer accept anonymous submissions. We therefore request that all submissions include a name for publication, regardless of content. We will in special circumstances protect a writer's identity only after we have established good cause for anonymity, otherwise we will not be able to publish the submission. For your contribution to reach us, you must (a) provide a valid e-mail address and (b) click on the validation link that will be sent to the e-mail address you provide.  If the address is not valid or you don't click on the validation link, it will be a waste of your time typing your submission because we will never see it! Your Name: Your Email: (Validation required) Comments: Enter Validation Code *